ON TASAWWUF Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597)

This hadith master and historian of the Hanbali school was a
fierce enemy of innovators in his time. We have quoted
extensively from his writings against anthropomorphists in the
the first half of this book. His Talbis Iblis (Satan's delusion)
is often quoted by "Salafis" against tasawwuf, but he
only wrote it against certain excesses which he saw in all groups
of the Community, such as among scholars of all kinds and
including Sufis.

Talbis Iblis is perhaps the most important single factor in
keeping alive the notion of Ibn al-Jawzi's hostility towards
tasawwuf. In reality, this work was not written against tasawwuf
or Sufis as such at all. It an indictment of all unorthodox
doctrines and practices, regardless of their sources, and opposed
any which he considered unwarranted innovations in the rule of
Shari`a, wherever found in the Islamic community, especially in
his time. It was written against specific innovated practices of
many groups, including the philosophers (al-mutafalsifa), the
theologians (al-mutakallimun), hadith scholars (`ulama'
al-hadith), jurists (al-fuqaha'), preachers (al-wu``az),
philologists (al-nahawiyyun), poets (al-shu`ara'), and certain
Sufis. It is in no way an indictment of the subjects they studied
and taught, but was an indictment of specific introductions of
innovation into their respective disciplines and fields.

Ibn al-Jawzi actually wrote many books of manaqib or
"merits" about the early Sufis, such as Manaqib Rabi`a
al-`Adawiyya, Manaqib Ma`ruf al-Karkhi, Manaqib Ibrahim ibn
Adham, Manaqib Bishr al-Hafi, and others. His Sifat al-safwa (The
manners of the elite) an abridgment of Abu Nu`aym's Hilyat
al-awliya' (The adornment of the saints), and his Minhaj al
qasidin wa mufid al-sadiqin (The road of the travellers to Allah
and the instructor of the truthful) are considered pillars in the
field of tasawwuf. He was prompted to write the latter by the
success of Ghazali's Ihya' `ulum al-din, and indeed the Minhaj
adopts much of the methodology and language of the Ihya' in
addition to treating the same subject-matter, self-purification
and personal ethics.

The Minhaj was epitomized in one volume by Najm al-Din Abu
al-`Abbas Ahmad ibn Qudama (d. 742). Here are some of its chapter
titles and excerpts most illustrative of Imam Ghazali's influence
on Ibn al-Jawzi and of the latter's adoption of Sufi terminology:

Fasl `ilm ahwal al-qalb (Section on the science of the
states of the heart)

Abu Bakr al-Siddiq said: "Whoever hates his ego for
Allah's sake, Allah will protect Him against what He hates."

Anas said: I heard `Umar say as he was alone behind a wall:
"Bakh, bakh! Bravo, well done, O my ego! By Allah, you had
better fear Allah, O little son of Khattab, or he will punish
you!"

Al-Bakhtari ibn Haritha said: "I saw one of the devoted
worshippers sitting in front of a fire which he had kindled as he
was castigating his ego, and he did not stop castigating his ego
until he died."

One of them said: "When the saints are mentioned, I say
to myself: Fie on you and fie on you again."

Know that your worst enemy is the ego that lies between your
two flanks. It has been created a tyrant commanding to evil,
always pushing you towards it, and you have been ordered to
straighten it, cleanse it (tazkiyat), wean it from what it feeds
on, and drag it in chains, subdued, to the worship of its Lord.1